Norway

Scientists in Norway have assessed how BIPV façades may react to fire accidents following a typical fire test for building façades. They found that flame propagation in the wall cavity is possible, despite the very limited amounts of combustible material, and that flames may propagate on the entire façade very quickly.

Norway reached 597 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of 2023. The authorities have attributed the record growth the country has posted over the past year to the successful connection of two large-scale PV plants.

Norwegian floating solar specialist Ocean Sun has deployed a 270 kW system based on its novel membrane technology at the saltwater port of Tazacorte on La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Thresholding methods have commonly been used to characterize the soiling accumulated on glass coupons. Researchers led by the Sapienza University of Rome have identified 16 automatic thresholding methods that may be used for analyzing soiling on PV panels.

Researchers from Norway have discovered that adding batteries to projects that combine hydropower and floating PV could increase annual profits by as much as 2%, due to revenues from ancillary services and capacity markets.

GM and Autocar Industries have agreed to jointly develop hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles using GM’s Hydrotec power cubes, while European lawmakers have reached a provisional agreement on common market rules for renewable gases and hydrogen.

Statkraft, a Norwegian energy company, is investigating the scalability and commercial viability of Aquabattery’s technology. It will finance a pilot project for between six and 12 months in the Netherlands.

A Finnish-Norwegian research group has investigated model chains for horizontal-to-vertical solar irradiance conversion in east-west oriented vertical PV systems located at high latitudes. They have found that accuracy and bias of the model chains are different for the east and west sides of solar array.

Solar manufacturer REC blames high electricity prices for the recent closure of two Nordic polysilicon production facilities.

Statkraft used actual production data from wind and solar farms in Spain to study the feasibility and bankability of hydrogen projects. For a 1 MW electrolyzer to achieve a 40% utilization rate, five times more solar capacity would be needed, it said.